


Old Friends Found

by Blooberry_321



Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Post-Battle of Endor (Star Wars), Post-Star Wars: Rebels, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:13:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28095960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blooberry_321/pseuds/Blooberry_321
Summary: Luke wanders around Endor after the destruction of the Death Star, feeling like he's looking for something. Meanwhile, Artoo finds an old friend.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 65





	Old Friends Found

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little scene I had stuck in my head and decided to write out. I might take more time to revise and redo it, but I've never posted before and decided why the heck not. Let me know if you have any thoughts or critiques :)

Luke roamed around Endor, mostly aimless. He could not shake the feeling that he was looking for something. What exactly, he wasn’t sure. There was just a nagging feeling in his chest that there was something he was supposed to find. He wondered if this was Obi-Wan and his father trying to tell him something, but with the buzz of camp around him this feeling was all that was able to get through. The picture of it, the two of them shouting over his shoulder while Luke wandered around empty headed, made him smile. He picked up his pace a bit, strolling with more of a purpose, occasionally stopping to chat with other soldiers and hear their plans.  
Two things caught his eye. The first was Artoo, rolling as fast as his wheels would take him. Admittedly that isn’t fast, but the droid was so full of personality and determination that soldiers dodged out of his way. The second was the man Artoo rolled towards. Luke didn’t recognize him, between the full snow-white beard and the tall stature he carried himself with, he figures if they’d met, he would be able to place him. But something about him… when Luke saw him there was a pang of familiarity. Maybe it was just the way he seemed to be lost in thought himself, also looking for something he wasn’t sure of.  
Artoo rammed straight into him. Luke slapped a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing out loud at the way the stranger stumbles off balance, and immediately feels guilty about it when he whirls around to look at the droid with surprise and just a bit of annoyance.  
  
But just as quickly as the man opened his mouth, probably to scold Artoo to watch where he was going, his expression melts. From where Luke was standing, he could see the shift into a wide eyed shock, and then with a booming laugh that turned heads all around them.  
  
“Artoo!” Luke can’t hear it, but he can imagine the rapid fire way that Artoo is beeping from the lights and the excited way he rolls back and forth. The man continuous to laugh a full hearted laugh as he kneels to level with Artoo, and clasps his shoulder hydraulic like you might clasp an old friends shoulder. Smiles appear on all the faces of the people around them, like the joy the two of them felt was spreading through the force. Luke grinned, and decided that whatever he was supposed to be doing could wait, this he had to know more about.  
  
The crowd moved along, but Artoo and this stranger continued to chat. Luke approached them quietly, not wanting to interrupt the conversation. There was something amusing about the way he nodded along to Artoo’s beeps and chips, listening intently, reacting to every word. He’d never seen anyone but himself and 3P0 who were able to understand Artoo so well. Within ear-shot, Luke caught the tail-end of the conversation.  
  
Artoo beeped something almost angry sounding, sharp and confrontational. The man smiles at him and nods, but his gold-colored eyes are heavy, and sad. Up close, Luke realized how weathered this man is. There’s a look in his eyes that he’s come to see in many members of the rebellion over the years, but it’s somehow… more.  
  
“Okay, that’s fair.” He patted Artoo’s dome, comforting. Under his dark green clothing Luke noticed blue decaled armor on his arms, not from the rebellion, that had definitely seen better days. “I’m sorry old buddy. I’m glad to see you’re alright.” Artoo whirs, a calmer more bitter sweet sound, and the corner of his mouth twitched upward. Artoo made one more, snarky chirp, and the man beamed. “Ha! Okay,” He waved a finger at the droid. “Be nice, until a minute ago you thought I was a dead man.” Luke’s eyebrows shot up at the comment, now privy to a whole past to this man he could not even begin to guess at, but he’d like to learn about.  
  
“How do you know Artoo?” Luke interrupted. The man winks, conspiratorially, and exhaled a huge sigh.  
  
“Well,” He turned his head up to look, expression warm and welcoming, but just as quick his face dropped into wide eyed shock again, the same way he had looked at Artoo just moments before. He recovers quickly enough, the polite smile he puts on would’ve left anyone else none the wiser.  
  
There is a certain guilt that comes with being force sensitive. Luke constantly feels a certain sense of intrusion. This stranger is obviously trying to keep what he felt when he sees Luke internal, but all of it hits the Jedi in the force at once.  
  
Shock, confusion, recognition. Pain and guilt, and grief. but also relief, a bittersweet joy, neatly packaged behind a tired smile and tired eyes. The amount of it threatened to knock Luke off balance. The nagging feeling from earlier was gone, replaced with a wave of sadness that Luke knows isn’t his own.  
  
The man and Artoo share a silent look, and he nods curtly, accepting something. He pushed himself to standing, a quick wince from sore joints. He extends a hand.  
  
“I’m Captain Rex, of phoenix squadron. Artoo here and I are old war buddies.” Unintentionally, Luke’s jaw dropped. He shot Artoo a glance but the small droid wouldn’t meet his eyes.  
  
“Well, that’s a whole story I’m not exactly privy to.” He took Rex’s hand. “But I’d love to hear it captain. I don’t believe we’ve met, but I’m Luke.” He tries not to, but the words seem to shove their way up his throat. “Um, Skywalker, Luke Skywalker.”  
  
Rex does not seem caught off guard in the slightest. He barely even reacts. He just nodded, slow and thoughtful. He lips press into a thin line, locking back whatever reaction was boiling under the surface. He closed his eyes tight for a brief second.  
  
“Yeah, yeah I figured.” Rex chuckled, an odd but not unhappy tilt to it. “Kriff kid, you’re the spitting image of him.”


End file.
